Blacking out camera bodies

[gnashings]

It was under a coat on the front seat, and the strap was entangled. I quickly pulled out the coat and watched the camera go sailing by....

Ouch!

 

[sajianphotos]

I taped over my Kiev once. I got tired of explaining KNEB realy isn't Hasselblad. My real job is a counselor. I've just discovered i'm, very possibly, as neurotic as some of my patients. I don't mind at all showing my Nikons. I have a hunch a well established camera thief knows a good camera witout the name showing.
I've got to go lay down now and wonder why I'm like I am.

 

[gnashings]

I tend to agre strongly with the view on theft and thieves - its like in any other area: there are pros, and tehre are punks. As with car thieves, who probably know more about your car than you do, there is little you can do to fool a pro who knows what he wants. And equally little to stop them if they want your stuff badly enough. Then there are punks, who may steal anything that comes to hand as long as it "looks expensive" to them - or more often, is simply there for the taking. By those standars, Idoubt blacking out will save you from either group, and am certain it won't from a pro. The only thing that does help are bags and packaging that does not scream: "CAMERA INSIDE!!!". I would not blame anyone for taking their nice brand name camera bags and putting them inside gym bags while they're in public view. No one wants your smelly sneakers - and those who do... well, they have problems beyond the scope of this forum

 

[janvanhove]

I've just black-taped the whole bellows of my 11x14 century-old camera, since it was rdried up and full of holes... The camera now looks much nicer, all black-taped like that, but it's not much more inconspicuous...

I actually took off the black leatherette from my 4x5 busch pressman because i think the aluminium looks better...

As for my 35mm stuff, I've got a beatten-up nikon f4 that looks like it's been through a war, so i don't worry about it attracting too much thieves' attention, especially since i mostly use it with a 50mm f1.8 which doesn't look at all like one of those big zooms everyone seems to be luggung about these days... Otherwise I have an olympus stylus epic, which couldn't be much more inconspicuous even if i tried...

My Hasselblad is a Hasselblad, so if ever someone comes up to me and asks if this is a hasseblad, I can say " well yes, yes it is"... and leave it there...

PJ

 

[sajianphotos]

It would serve a thief right if he did steal a Kiev thinking it was a hassy. Hope I didn't offend any Kievaholics out there. The only thing tape is real useful for on a Kiev is to seal the light leaks. If I had a Hassy I'd be proud as punch. Sorry for stetching the thread.

 

[Charles Webb]

Cammo duct tape would be my choice for this camera "taping" thing. But then I might not be able find it once it was set up. As old as my cameras are perhaps that would be a good thing.

 

[narsuitus]

I use black tape on all my film cameras whether it is a black body or not. I use it to cover the release mechanism on the camera back to prevent me from accidentally opening the camera. Once too often I have opened in haste what I thought was an empty camera, only to ruin the exposed film inside.

 

[bjorke]

I have a couple of cameras with both "X" and "M" sync settings -- those levers were both promptly taped to "X" after one bad experience

 

[benjiboy]

Black Out

The whole black tape on camera thing was originally done to cut the reflections from chrome so that the camera wasn't so obvious. My reading says this was a way to minimize any photo-Heisenberg type effect, mostly in street shooting; i.e. an observed event is not changed so much when the subject doesn't know you have a camera (regardless of brand). It would also make sense to me for a war correspondent to have a flat finish, non-reflective camera. This black taping was often done on "professional" gear, like Leicas and Nikons, it got noticed, and led eventually to black bodies being considered "professional" by people who think that the name and color of the gear confers some sort of status.

I know some people now tape over names and red dots to help prevent theft of brands that thieves consider desirable. Maybe that helps. I doubt there are enough observations to prove any effect. I don't worry about this either way, and I don't assume someone with a particular brand of camera is necessarily a pro photographer or a professional consumer of status conferring equipment. Nor do I assume that someone with a "low-status" brand is a bad photographer, or that someone with a taped camera is a presumptuous snob or poseur.

I have had a number people approach me because of the brand (many) or type (SLR, TLR, 4x5 field, MF rangefinder, 35mm rangefinder) of camera I was using, often when I didn't want to be interrupted and the scene or light was changing and I was close to losing my shot. If it happened consistently, I'd probably do what I could to prevent it, including taping a camera name. But I've also met some very nice and interesting people this way, and even gotten things like a free place to stay in Paris for a week.

I don't think there's any point in drawing any conclusions about camera tapers or their motivations. It obviously works for some people, and others don't care. Anyone more obsessed with how hardware looks or what name is on it, taped over or not, than with the output is missing the point anyway.

BTW, does anyone know if Hermes makes a good durable flat black tape?

Lee

Here in England about thirty years ago press photographers in London got p****d off that Nikon U.K were using pictures of them in their adverts, and the copy read something like "95 percent of the press pack use Nikon", they started taping over the Nikon logo because they got no payment from the company for this, thereafter a lot of wannabes started the practice

 

[Lee L]

Here in England about thirty years ago press photographers in London got p****d off that Nikon U.K were using pictures of them in their adverts, and the copy read something like "95 percent of the press pack use Nikon", they started taping over the Nikon logo because they got no payment from the company for this, thereafter a lot of wannabes started the practice

I assume they can't make that 95% claim anymore, given what I've seen lately. Used to be in the US that newsrooms had pool equipment that was all or nearly all Nikon, and Nikon bent over backwards to accomodate them on repairs and loaners. I don't know if that's gone away, but I get the impression that Canon is now playing that game very well, at least at major sports venues, and has stolen a lot of market share. I'm also not one who is impressed by what the "pack" is doing, so that tack never worked for me, whether it's Canon or Nikon or anyone else.

When I last worked at a camera store (and Nikon had that market share in the press) I was completely underwhelmed by Nikon warranty service for the general public. They denied service under warranty on a number of the new 1/4000 shutters in the FM2/FE2, blaming my customers for the failures. They changed stories on their assessment of what went wrong with one particular shutter three times... radically. It was obviously a problem with the early versions of that shutter, but the only way those shutters remained on sale in that shop was the local sales rep agreeing to cover repairs out of his own pocket. Nikon USA (or EPOI, or whoever it was at that point) never acknowledged the problem was theirs. In the first two years of that shutter, the local Nikon authorized repair said he never saw one do better than 1/2500th when set to 1/4000, and most were nearer 1/2000th, a full stop off.

Sorry, didn't set out to slam Nikon. But like most makers, they're not always as special as they'd like you to believe, taped over or not. I did recently see a photo of Lee Friedlander carrying a taped-over Voigtlander Bessa 35mm rangefinder and lens, one of the newer Leica mount bodies. Got a good chuckle out of that, even though I didn't try to assign a motive. Can you get black electrician's tape with the Holga logo embossed on it, or maybe just a pricetag for $5.99?

Lee